Book
Review
Title: A Man Called Ove
Author: Fredrik Backman
Translation from Swedish:
Henning Koch
Publisher: Hodder &
Stoughton Ltd, London, 2015
Pages: 295
Ove is a grumpy old man. Right in the initial pages of
the novel, we are informed that “People said he was bitter. Maybe they were
right. He’d never reflected much on it. People also called him ‘anti-social’.
Ove assumed this meant he wasn’t overly keen on people. And in this instance he
could totally agree with them. More often than not people were out of their
minds.”
The novel is Ove’s story It is Ove’s
grumpiness that makes him a fascinating character for the reader. Grumpiness
notwithstanding, Ove has a lot of goodness within. His world is governed by
rules, order and routines. He is superhumanly hardworking and honest. He won’t
speak about other people even if such silence means the loss of his job and
even personal honour.
When his colleague Tom steals money
and puts the blame squarely on Ove, which in turn leads to Ove’s losing the job
which he loved much, the young Ove refuses to speak against Tom merely because it
is his principled stand not to speak about other people. Even when Tom
ridicules Ove publicly calling him “Thief”, Ove doesn’t budge from his
principle. The director of the establishment knows the truth and hence saves
Ove from prison and offers him another job.
It would have been quite impossible
for a man like Ove to find a wife. But Ove did find one, a very loving one too,
in Sonja. But Sonja’s life is cut short by cancer. A bus accident had already
rendered her partly paralysed. Ove lives with fond memories of Sonja all his
life. She had discovered the gentle soul that lay beneath Ove’s apparent
grumpiness. She knows that “the best men are born out of their faults and that
they often improve later on, more than if they’d never done anything wrong.”
Ove really doesn’t improve much. Not
in Sonja’s lifetime, at least. Later, a few other characters in the
neighbourhood bring about certain changes in him. Rather, they draw out the
latent goodness. What endears Ove to the readers, however, is his grumpiness
which is essentially a quarrel with the silliness of human nature that is
constantly “driving a man to the brink of madness and suicide.” Ove does try to
commit suicide a number of times, and something goes wrong each time.
Sonja’s death renders Ove’s life
meaningless. However, certain neighbours like Parvaneh and her family, whom Ove
detests initially, brings meaning into his life. Meaning and purpose in life often comes from outside
oneself, the novel suggests again and again.
The novel is written in a deceptively
simple, conversational style.
There is much humour and it is dry, situational and character-driven. Ove makes
us smile all too often. Even when he attempts suicide. The rope he used for
hanging himself snapped. And his reaction? “This society… Can’t they even
manufacture rope anymore? ... No, there’s no quality anymore, Ove decides.”
Backman’s style is stunningly simple
but captivating. Just see how he describes Sonja’s death: “’Everything will be
fine, darling Ove,’” Sonja whispers “and leaned her arm against his arm. And
then gently pushed her index finger into the palm of his hand (as she often
did). And then closed her eyes and died.”
Sonja’s death was nothing less than
the end of the world for Ove. But he survives. In spite of his repeated
attempts to take his own life. At least some people in the neighbourhood bring some
light into his dark world, Parvaneh being the leading one. It is she who tells
Ove on one occasion, “You know, Ove, sometimes one almost suspects you have a heart.”
What makes Ove lovable in spite of all his grumpiness is precisely that
suspicion which we all share as we read the novel.
Let me add a personal note. I bought
this novel a few years ago and started reading it too. But it failed to enthuse
me beyond 40 or 50 pages. I took it down again the other day from the shelf and
this time Ove did capture my interest. In a way, it is a feel-good novel.
Having read it now, I have begun to love Ove as much as Parvaneh did, though
not as much as Sonja did. Though Sonja dies too early in Ove’s life, she
remains a central character in the novel. Love has no death.
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